If Terry Murray is ever fortunate enough to lift the Stanley Cup in the name of the Kings, perhaps he will chuckle at the memory of his first home game, before which he got introduced to the Staples Center crowd as “Terry Murphy.”

The home crowd applauded Ol’ What’s-His-Name regardless, and seemed genuinely enthusiastic at the start of what’s expected to be another tough season for their club, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2002 and didn’t even come close in the past two years.

So far, it’s two games and two losses, as the Kings fell to the San Jose Sharks 1-0 before an announced sellout crowd of 18,118.

Of more concern to the Kings was the loss of defenseman Jack Johnson, who didn’t return after a shift early in the second period.

Johnson suffered some type of undisclosed arm injury and, after the game, said he was “fine.” He will be evaluated again today.

The Kings remain without a point in the standings, but they turned in a more honest effort Sunday than they did in Saturday’s season opener in San Jose, when the Kings meekly lost 3-1 and recorded 13 shots, only one more than the franchise-record low.

This time, the Kings outshot the Sharks 21-19 and goalie Jason LaBarbera made 18 saves, but Lukas Kaspar’s first NHL goal, 9:56 into the second period, held up as the game’s only score and Sharks goalie Brian Boucher stopped all 21 shots.

“I really liked the way we played, especially in the second half of the game,” Murray said. “The third period was tremendous. We started to see something that we haven’t seen yet, and that was that ‘compete’ for each other, playing hard for your teammates.

“There was a lot of blocking shots and playing real hard and heavy on pucks on the boards and in front of the net area. It was great to see that, and that’s kind of a bar that’s set. I’m going to try very hard to keep them to that level now. It was something to build on.”

Patrick O’Sullivan, who missed most of training camp before he signed a contract extension last week, played his first game and eventually reclaimed his top-line spot next to Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar, but the Kings couldn’t solve Boucher.

Actually they did, twice in the second period, but both goals were disallowed. Jarret Stoll’s goal was immediately waved off because Dustin Brown was in the goal crease. Matt Moulson’s goal was overturned by a video review because he kicked in the puck.

The Kings went scoreless in five power-play attempts but killed all three Sharks power plays. They are 9 for 9 in penalty killing so far.

LaBarbera gave up a relatively soft, medium-range goal to Kaspar but otherwise looked solid for a second consecutive game.

In the middle part of training camp, Murray declared LaBarbera his No. 1 goalie, an unsurprising move given that LaBarbera was the oldest – he’s 28 – and most experienced of the eight goalies who started training camp with the Kings.

LaBarbera fared very well Saturday in the Kings’ season opener, when he stopped 38 of 41 shots in a 3-1 loss to San Jose. Murray didn’t hesitate to go back to LaBarbera on Sunday, and LaBarbera is likely to start Tuesday’s game against the Ducks.

“Throughout my whole career, I’ve always been able to play a lot of games, even in juniors,” LaBarbera said. “I’ve always been a guy who has been able to play a lot, but now I just feel better about it. Physically, I don’t know what it is, but I just feel better. Everything about me just feels better. After practice, I’m not as sore and tired. It’s kind of a nice feeling.”

Murray said his goal, in general, is to start his No. 1 goalie more than 60 times a season. That could be a challenge with LaBarbera, who has been slowed by injuries several times during his career, but LaBarbera entered camp in the best shape of his career.

LaBarbera played 45 games with the Kings last season and had a 3.00 goals-against average.

“He loves the work,” Murray said. “I know, from talking to the other coaches and getting feedback from them, that he’s a hardworking guy who does a lot of extra (work) in the morning skates. He really thrives with that kind of workload, so I’ll go with it.

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.

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